EXCLUSIVE: Guillermo del Toro, The Jim Henson Company and Pathe are ready to go on Pinocchio, a 3D stop motion animated adaptation of the Carlo Collodi fairy tale that will be edgier than the 1940 animated Disney classic. Gris Grimly will co-direct with Mark Gustafson, and production will begin later this year. Grimly illustrated a 2002 book of Collodi’s tale that formed the basis for a project that is years in the making.

The storyline was hatched by Del Toro and Matthew Robbins, and the script was written by the latter, who has collaborated with del Toro on scripts for Mimic, the remake Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, and del Toro’s next directing project At the Mountains of Madness. Del Toro will produce with Jim Henson Company’s Lisa Henson and Jason Lust, and Allison Abbate. Gary Ungar is exec producer along with Pathe’s Francois Ivernel and Cameron McCracken.

This version is aimed at an audience 10 years and up, and a bit scarier than the Disney film. Australian rock musician and film composer Nick Cave has signed on to be music consultant and the puppets and 3D elements will be developed with MacKinnon and Saunders, the UK-based facility that worked on The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, and the upcoming Frankenweenie. Del Toro supplied the accompanying photos to convey the feel of a film that shares a core theme from the Disney film: the innocent whose inherent goodness, purity and love for his father saves him from a series of harrowing adventures and temptations in his quest to morph from wooden puppet to real boy. . . .

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Interests:Ex-musician on the global road for over a decade, ex-worker of two jobs for seven years, ex-republican, ex-democratic socialist, ex-evangelical. Interests: Film, an invigorating sermon, a great class, a challenging book, snow skiing, roller blading, sky diving, things that bring PEACE in a BUSY BUSY world. Currently seeking a Sabbath. Always desiring to learn and experience more, gaining insight from the knowledge of others.

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Interests:Ex-musician on the global road for over a decade, ex-worker of two jobs for seven years, ex-republican, ex-democratic socialist, ex-evangelical. Interests: Film, an invigorating sermon, a great class, a challenging book, snow skiing, roller blading, sky diving, things that bring PEACE in a BUSY BUSY world. Currently seeking a Sabbath. Always desiring to learn and experience more, gaining insight from the knowledge of others.

: I could have sworn I just saw a trailer even yesterday with Roberto Benigni in this.

Um, a joke, yes? I have a feeling we discussed Benigni's version of Pinocchio (2002) on the old Chiafilm board -- or would it have been too late for that? Maybe the Novogate board?

Half and half as far as the joke goes. I knew it wasn't this Pinocchio Benigni was in, but I did see the trailer for that version of the film sometime in the past two days, and couldn't find the link for it for this thread.

Guillermo Del Toro will co-direct "Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio" with Mark Gustafson, animation director on "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," as a 3D stop-motion animated production of the Jim Henson Company.

Del Toro told Variety that he plans to begin shooting in the summer of 2013. It's the first time he's directed an animated feature.

Story will be set in Italy between WWI and WWII. "It was when everyone was behaving like a puppet, except for puppets," Del Toro said.

Del Toro disclosed in 2008 that he had began working on a Pinnochio project with Henson and Gris Grimly, who illustrated a 2002 version of "Pinocchio." At that point, Grimly and Adam Parrish King were attached to co-direct; last year, Del Toro and Henson Co. announced that Grimly would co-direct with Gustafson. . . .

Nick Cave will serve as music consultant. . . .

Del Toro said no casting decisions have been made but noted he's considered Tom Waits for the role of Pinocchio's father and Donald Sutherland for the role of the fox. . . .

According to Bleeding Cool, Grimly posted a couple of tweets yesterday that implied the project is stalled . . .

The tweets have since been deleted so perhaps Grimly’s announcement was premature. The production studio ShadowMachine still lists the project on their homepage. With Henry Selick’s stop-motion film also shut down last year, what other feature film stop-mo projects are still in production? If anyone knows more about what’s happening, do tell.

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Guillermo del Toro Directing ‘Pinocchio’ for Netflix
Fresh off his Oscar win for “The Shape of Water,” Guillermo del Toro is set to make his animated feature film directing debut. Del Toro has received the green light from Netflix to film “Pinocchio,” a stop motion musical version of the classic children’s tale about a puppet who wants to be a real live boy. He will write and produce the film in addition to directing it.
The film will be set in Italy during the 1930s, a particularly fraught historical moment and a time when fascism was on the rise and Benito Mussolini was consolidating control of the country. Production on “Pinocchio” will begin this fall. Del Toro previously set “The Devil’s Backbone” and “Pan’s Labyrinth” against a totalitarian backdrop, although he placed those stories in Franco’s Spain. . . .
Del Toro will collaborate on “Pinocchio” with the Jim Henson Company, the company behind “The Dark Crystal” and ShadowMachine, the creator of “Bojack Horseman.” Lisa Henson, ShadowMachine’s Alex Bulkley, Corey Campodonico, and Gary Ungar of Exile Entertainment will produce the film. Blanca Lista will co-produce it.
Patrick McHale (“Over The Garden Wall”) will co-write the script, and Mark Gustafson (“Fantastic Mr. Fox”) will co-direct the movie. Guy Davis will serve as co-production designer and the film’s puppets will be built by Mackinnon and Saunders, the team behind “Corpse Bride.” . . .Variety, October 22